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The Metamorphosis: The Bestselling Science Fiction Novel

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off com "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."
With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing -- though absurdly comic -- meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off com "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."
With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing -- though absurdly comic -- meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."

30 review for
The Metamorphosis: The Bestselling Science Fiction Novel

4 out of 5

Rebecca–Jul 08, 2008

I once used my copy to kill a beetle.
Thereby combining my two passions: irony and slaughter.
*wields*

5 out of 5

Dan Schwent–May 02, 2011

Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover he's been transformed into a giant beetle-like creature. Can he and his family adjust to his new form?
The Metamorphosis is one of those books that a lot of people get dragooned into reading during high school and therefore are predisposed to loath. I managed to escape this fate and I'm glad. The Metamorphosis is quite a strange little book.
Translated from German, The Metamorphosis is the story of how Gregor Samsa's transformation tears his family apa Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover he's been transformed into a giant beetle-like creature. Can he and his family adjust to his new form?
The Metamorphosis is one of those books that a lot of people get dragooned into reading during high school and therefore are predisposed to loath. I managed to escape this fate and I'm glad. The Metamorphosis is quite a strange little book.
Translated from German, The Metamorphosis is the story of how Gregor Samsa's transformation tears his family apart. I feel like there are hidden meanings that are just beyond my grasp. I suspect it's a commentary about how capitalism devours its workers when they're unable to work or possibly about how the people who deviate from the norm are isolated. However, I mostly notice how Samsa's a big frickin' beetle and his family pretends he doesn't exist.
There's some absurdist humor at the beginning. Samsa's first thoughts upon finding out he's a beetle is how he's going to miss work. Now, I'm as dedicated to my job as most people but if I woke up to find myself a giant beetle, I don't think I'd have to mull over the decision to take a personal day or two.
Aside from that, the main thing that sticks out is what a bunch of bastards Samsa's family is. He's been supporting all of them for years in his soul-crushing traveling salesman job and now they're pissed that they have to carry the workload. Poor things. It's not like Gregor's sitting on the couch drinking beer while they're working. He's a giant damn beetle! Cut him some slack.
All kidding aside, the ending is pretty sad. I'll bet Mr. Samsa felt like a prick later. The Metamorphosis gets four stars, primarily for being so strange and also because it's the ancestor of many weird or bizarro tales that came afterwords. It's definitely worth an hour or two of your time.

I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself. Allow me to explain it to you then:
You (Gregor) turned into a giant bug.
Your family alternated between fearing, caring, and loathing you in your bug-body.
Ultimately, you began doing lots of creepy bug-things and became a burden to them.
Then you starved to death and your parents got their spare bedroom back.
*slow clapping*
Okaaaay, if you haven't already guessed, I did I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself. Allow me to explain it to you then:
You (Gregor) turned into a giant bug.
Your family alternated between fearing, caring, and loathing you in your bug-body.
Ultimately, you began doing lots of creepy bug-things and became a burden to them.
Then you starved to death and your parents got their spare bedroom back.
*slow clapping*
Okaaaay, if you haven't already guessed, I didn't enjoy this one.
I am not a fan of books where things just *happen* without any sort of explanation.
I could summarize the entire book as: Gregor turns into a bug, it was not a smart move.
Which is slightly misrepresenting the book - cause the book actually has Gregor turning into a bug without any rhyme or reason.
Actually.
Wait a moment.
This is probably one of those books where everything is a representation of something significant in real life.
An "Important Novel", if you will.
Lemme Wikipedia this.
...
.....
........
Ok. I'm back.
Apparently the bug thing is either a metaphor for a "father complex" (Gregor's dad was the most anti-Gregor/anti-bug character) or a take on the "artist struggle" (Gregor's sister is the cruelest, because she can make music).
I mean, maybe?
I guess that could be what the book means...? There's a cruel father and a gifted daughter...but who knows.
It kind of feels like one of those books just written for the hell of it and then some English teachers got a hold of it and now it's become an Important Novel.
Therefore, I'm going to stick with my original interpretation - it's a rather pointless novel about a bug that dies.
Be angry all you want, I'm not in English class - I'm under no obligation to interpret it the "right" way.
Personally, I did not like the style, the characters and the ending. It took up time that I can never get back.
The end. How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense
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5 out of 5

Gaurav–Mar 12, 2012

The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis can quite easily be one of Franz Kafka’s best works of literature- one of the best in Existentialist literature. The author shows the struggle of human existence- the problem of living in modern society- through the narrator.
Gregor Samsa wakes in his bed and discovers he has transformed into a some kind of a giant bug; he struggles to find what actually has happened to him, he looks around his small room and everything looks normal to him however it The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis can quite easily be one of Franz Kafka’s best works of literature- one of the best in Existentialist literature. The author shows the struggle of human existence- the problem of living in modern society- through the narrator.
Gregor Samsa wakes in his bed and discovers he has transformed into a some kind of a giant bug; he struggles to find what actually has happened to him, he looks around his small room and everything looks normal to him however it gets a weird feeling it may not be so. He tries to roll over and go back to sleep in order to forget about what has happened, but because of the shape of his back, he can only rock from side to side.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."
The opening line of the novella recounts the bizarre event of Gregor’s transformation in a quite straightforward manner, the author used the contrasting picture of an unusual situation and ordinary things of life to create an absurd world which is chilly, chaotic rather than ordered and rational.
Gregor gets used to his insect body and his family feeds him (mainly the wrong things, but they don't care) and removes furniture from his room so that he can freely move around and climb the walls. But they don't want to see his ugly form, he is confined to his room, and usually hides under the sofa when his sister enters with his food, to spare her sensibilities (in contrast to the sweetly human insect Gregor, his sister is not considerate at all, but increasingly antagonistic and cruel); his brutish father chases him back by throwing apples at him when he once comes out. The family members also have to take jobs for they can no longer sponge off the successful son. And the situation breaks down, and the family disintegrates.
The problem of alienation is explored to depth in the novella- Gregor become insect and behaviour of his family members change towards him, he may transformed to something unusual at the core he is still the same however he faces problem of acceptance by society due to his transformed appearance.
The novella raises some very basic and profound questions of human existence- alienation, identity, being. Kafka questions all our presuppositions of life- success, social position, money, that a healthy life is characterized by a steadily improving standard of living and a socially-acceptable appearance which we think matter most- through Gregor's metamorphosis. These presuppositions of our life pose more serious questions- which are very chilly and which can rip us apart from any sense of our (inauthentic) existence.
The author robs Gregor-the protagonist- of every sense of his inauthentic existence by stealing off all assumptions of his life, now he is striped down to the very core of his existence. The protagonist is encountered with basic problems of human existence- what it takes to be?- which we encounter in our lives- if we once appeared socially acceptable and now have ceased to do so, are we still in fact ourselves? Was the socially-acceptable persona in fact ourselves, or is there more essential self-ness in the being we have now become? Or have we, in fact, been nobody in the first place, and are we nobody still?
Gregor Samsa can make us think more deeply about our own identity, about the fluidity of what we take to be stable and fixed, and about the perils and miracles of our own metamorphoses. Kafka shows us that how the values of conventional society are warped due to our inability to look beyond the surface to the human being inside.

4 out of 5

Petra CigareX–Apr 16, 2014

A paraphrase. When my ex-husband went out one evening from unsettling dreams of how faraway his wife was, he went out drinking and whoring. Next morning he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. A cockroach. Much he knew it though. None of his friends recognised it, in fact they preferred the cockroach to the person he had been and he had a great time. When it was time for him to come home, armour-plated as he was he crushed his wife underfoot (well fists and kicks, but same t A paraphrase. When my ex-husband went out one evening from unsettling dreams of how faraway his wife was, he went out drinking and whoring. Next morning he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. A cockroach. Much he knew it though. None of his friends recognised it, in fact they preferred the cockroach to the person he had been and he had a great time. When it was time for him to come home, armour-plated as he was he crushed his wife underfoot (well fists and kicks, but same thing).
Unlike Kafka's poor cockroach whom no one could come to terms with and is destroyed by their ultimate hatred of creepy, crawly insects that roam the house, my ex was embraced by all and became the most popular party person. Although at one stage I did have to fight off a woman who was swinging her handbag at me and tell a Spanish prostitute that my husband's unwanted attentions were no business of mine.
The moral of the story is that there is more than one type of human cockroach and Kafka only wrote about one. It's all in the shell, if you are ugly, big, brown and with six legs you are hated. But handsome, big brown and with only two, you are adored.
Read this book back in 1999 and loved it. Social isolation for visible or invisible characterists reverberated with me, as did the cold gang mentality that rules once each has identified itself as a sympathetic member.
5 star book
2 star ex husband (I did get my son so he gets a star for that).

Arabic/English Review
First read I got the impression; pretty disgusted yet very sad
قرائتي الأولي لها شعرت بشئ من الحزن والكثير من القرف والاشمئزاز
Second read,more emotional & sympathy for Kafka Samsa
القراءة الثانية شعرت بمشاعر حزن أكثر..وتعاطف مع كافكا,أقصد سامسا
READ..FEEL..RE-READ
هي قصة تقرأها..تشعر به..وتعيد قرائتها
لذا قرأتها لمرة ثالثة وأخيرة وكم شعرت بالحزن والاكتئاب
تخيل أنك كنت العائل الوحيد لأسرتك، ثم أصبحت عاجزا وعبئا علي تلك الأسرة
لمجرد انك صرت بحالة جعلتك...غريب الأطوار
تشتاق للجلوس Arabic/English Review
First read I got the impression; pretty disgusted yet very sad
قرائتي الأولي لها شعرت بشئ من الحزن والكثير من القرف والاشمئزاز
Second read,more emotional & sympathy for Kafka Samsa
القراءة الثانية شعرت بمشاعر حزن أكثر..وتعاطف مع كافكا,أقصد سامسا
READ..FEEL..RE-READ
هي قصة تقرأها..تشعر به..وتعيد قرائتها
لذا قرأتها لمرة ثالثة وأخيرة وكم شعرت بالحزن والاكتئاب
تخيل أنك كنت العائل الوحيد لأسرتك، ثم أصبحت عاجزا وعبئا علي تلك الأسرة
لمجرد انك صرت بحالة جعلتك...غريب الأطوار
تشتاق للجلوس معهم في الجلسات الاسرية الدافئة الحميمة والتي كان يمنعك عنها دائما عملك وتجوالك لكسب لقمة العيش...والان ومع عجزك وملازمتك المنزل, يمنعك عجزك ومرضك وغرابة اطوارك من نفس الجلسات الاسرية التي افتقدها وانت لست بالمنزل
لأن , تخيل, ان مرضك هذا يجعلك منفرا لهم..كالمسخ
ضع نفسك مكان كافكا ,عذرا, سامسا وانت تقرأ تلك القصة..فهو ايضا كان عمله يجعله بعيدا عن البيت كثيرا لدرجه انه في مذكراته قال ان سفريات عمله منعته من جعل تلك الرواية افضل , أقصد هنا كافكا بالفعل
وكذلك تلك العلاقة المعقدة بينه وبين ابيه من العوامل المشتركة بين كافكا وسامسا بطل الرواية لتشعر انهما فعلا ..واحد
كما ان هناك بعض الأجزاء التي توضح ان غرابته هذه جعلته شخصا افضل نوعا ما, فمثلا هو في النهاية بدأ يتذوق جمال الموسيقي بالرغم من انه لم يكن يجب الموسيقي كثيرا قبل ذلك كما اعترف وهو يفكر بارسال اخته الي الكونسرفتوار
مما يجعلك تشعر انه نوع من انواع المرض النفسي , ربما الأكتئاب من الواقع المظلم والرغبة في مستقبل أكثر جمالا..ومن منا لم يشعر بهذا الأكتئاب وهذه الرغبة؟
هذه الرغبة قد تجعلك فعلا..غريب الأطوار في مثل ذلك العالم المظلم
العمل الشاق الذي ييجرد انسانيتك ويجعلك كمجرد حشرة تسعي للرزق
فحتي الأغلفة التي ظهرت للرواية والتي أشرف عليها كافكا لم يكن بها حتي صورة للحشرة, وإنما للعائلة أو لشخص يخفي وجهه
عاما كل تلك المشاعر شعرت بصدق كتابتها ووجعها وألمها
يجب ان تقرأ بالفعل
بالنسبة للنهاية فعلا شعرت بانها غريبة,كان يمكن ان تكون افضل كما اعترف كافكا نفسه ولكنها تظل ملائمة ورمزية..ويكفي انه شعر باحاسيسه كل من قرأ الرواية..وشعر بمعاناة كافكا
Third read was after all that rant in my edition which I only liked a few of it all- It didn't tell me more than I already 'felt' about the story, some articles add more deep understanding to what I've already understand..but some was OVER-Analyze..may be away of what Kafka wanted to tell...
It's very sad story indeed, imagine that you become a burden on your family for unknowing, incurable sickness ,after you've been the sole support for your family....how you've been 'killing' yourself for bread winning to them..now they even can't look at you probably.
I've read Kafka's letters ,and with some of his real life sad story, He is a Metamorphosis himself...I felt it's not necessary a True Bug, it may be a sickness of the long time traveling and full time working, it may be just nervous breakdown or some other psychological illness..Who knows..It's a story about Feeling for me..that's why by my second reading I've felt more like the second picture I've add at the review..
And note that the original 1916 early edition's cover there's no an Actual Bug ,as well as most of the early ones.
*
It's a Story about feelings and differences..I won't spoil it for you But read it and try to put yourself in the position of Samsa, and that's very easy since Kafka's writing style here is very easy yet very classic well written.
I felt how much he'd been longing for warm time with the family that hard work always kept him away of that...and then being sick..
I felt how hard for his family to accept him..how they can't stand look at him and felt sorry for them..it's human nature after all..
I felt how this "metamorphosis" progress even made him a bit better from inside, As when he learn how to taste the music -while he mention he didn't like it before- ...how it made him feel more responsible for his family, but can't do a thing now...
I felt very sad for the family..and of course more sorry for him...Samsa / Kafka..
And the rating is up from 3.5 to 4 just because Kafka's admitting -at the extra in this edition- that:
I am now reading The Metamorphosis at jome and find it bad.
"from The Diaries of Franz Kafka. Oct.20, 1913
Well,first read for me I felt it can be better,although I still felt very sad..but I also hate how was the ending at all,the last 4 or 5 pages (view spoiler)[after the death,not the death itself (hide spoiler)] I get it but it really can be better..well,his admitting that at his diaries made my rating higher.
Great antipathy to "Metamorphosis." Unreadable ending.
Imperfect almost to the foundation. It would have turned out much better if I had not been interrupted at the time by the business trip.
"from The Diaries of Franz Kafka. Jan.19, 1914
Well,Rest in Peace Kafka, your work has been felt by millions of people..
May God Bless your soul.
Mohammed Arabey
From May 31 2014
To June 13 2014
PS : Since I've read a 200 pages edition of a 50 pages only novel, I Know how it feels to read long rant about a novel, It's Kinda boring..So I've tried to make my review short...but couldn't :) sorry

4 out of 5

Nikki–Dec 27, 2007

Gregor waking up one morning as a bug was a hilarious analogy of the effects an illness can have on someone, as well as on those who are close to him. Though the underlying story behind the hilarity of the analogy was anything but funny. I took it as more of a warning of what NOT to do when a loved-one is afflicted by some unfortunate disease or circumstance. I found his resistance of acknowledging to himself that he had become a bug in the beginning of the story to be very interesting. When he Gregor waking up one morning as a bug was a hilarious analogy of the effects an illness can have on someone, as well as on those who are close to him. Though the underlying story behind the hilarity of the analogy was anything but funny. I took it as more of a warning of what NOT to do when a loved-one is afflicted by some unfortunate disease or circumstance. I found his resistance of acknowledging to himself that he had become a bug in the beginning of the story to be very interesting. When he couldn't ignore his state any longer, he looked to others' reactions as to how he would look at his own condition. As he was trying to unlock his bedroom door to let his parents and supervisor in, he thought,
"If they took fright, then Gregor would have no further responsibility and could rest in peace. But if they took it all calmly, then he had no reason to get excited either and he could, if he hurried, actually be at the station by eight."
The reaction of those around him, and most importantly, those of his closest loved-ones, is what influenced his own attitude towards himself and his own state. He became completely ashamed of himself, striving to completely hide himself from view, though it took great effort and pain on his part to do so. His imprisonment, or rather, his confinement from the company of others, had a devastating affect upon his mental well-being and in turn, affected his physical well-being. Such a sad story and the fact that his family didn't feel remorse for their actions, but relief for themselves at his death... I don't believe Kafka was trying to say this is how humans are indubitably, even though most of them try to put on a show of galantry and higher morals. But that humans certainly can become some of the most self-serving, self-centered creatures on Earth. It serves as a warning to us all that while it is good to allow others to serve us from time to time, it is far better to always serve others. Gregor's family had all become accustomed to being taken care of by him. They didn't even mind that he was held in servitude to pay off their debts. This was made evident when the fact was made known that Gregor's father had been saving up extra money earned by Gregor, when it could have been used to pay for his freedom much sooner. Gregor, on the other hand, had been serving his family and loved them purely because of it. His first thought was not of himself, but of the hardship his condition would cause his family.
So lest we fall into such an ugly state of existence, let us guard ourselves by serving those we love, thus loving more those we serve.

Kafka’s classic tale written in 1912 is about the changes that can come about in our lives. Up until the very end, the entire tale takes place in an apartment of a mother, father, son and daughter. The son is unfortunately unable to continue to perform his job as a traveling salesman and support his family financially. This abrupt change forces the father, mother and daughter to exert more energy in their lives and take steps to earn money. Here is a word about each member of the family:
The Fath Kafka’s classic tale written in 1912 is about the changes that can come about in our lives. Up until the very end, the entire tale takes place in an apartment of a mother, father, son and daughter. The son is unfortunately unable to continue to perform his job as a traveling salesman and support his family financially. This abrupt change forces the father, mother and daughter to exert more energy in their lives and take steps to earn money. Here is a word about each member of the family:
The Father – At the beginning of the tale he is too worn out to even stand up straight and walk across the apartment without pausing. At the end, he stands up straight, combs his white hair neatly, wears a uniform smartly in his new job working for a bank and can take charge of family situations and challenges with authority.
The Mother – At the outset, she is weak and helpless. At the end, she does the household cooking and helps support her family through taking in sewing.
The Daughter – A wan stay-at-home at the beginning and a healthy out-in-the-world worker at the end. At the very end, this 17 year-old blossoms into an attractive young lady, a real catch for some lucky guy.
This Kafka tale is, in some important ways, the forerunner of such books as ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course, what I've written above is tongue-in-cheek; not to be taken seriously!
Review of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka ---- Take 2
If I didn’t write this ‘Take 2’ I suspect my book review would be the first in nearly 100 years not to mention Gregor wakes up transformed into an enormous bug. Since there already so many reviews posted, I’d like to offer several brief observations:
• What is it about our attempt to maintain the status quo? Gregor is transformed into a monstrous verminous bug and all he and his mother and father and sister can ask is: ‘How can we change things back to how they were?’.
• The objective 3rd person narrator lets us know directly that although Gregor’s body has transformed, he still has his human mind with its memories. Why does his family assume Gregor lost his human mind? If they wanted, they could simply ask him questions to find out. For example, ‘Gregor, if you can understand what I am saying, move over to the right side of your room’. This speaks volumes about how people are too narrow in their thinking to deal with life creatively and with imagination.
• What adds to the eeriness of Kafka tale is Gregor’s metamorphosis is in stark contrast to the humdrum regularity of the family in their apartment. The possible exception is the absurdist scene at the beginning where Gregor’s manager knocks on the door and insists on knowing why Gregor missed the early morning train. This combination of these opposites is a stroke of genius.
• The most insightful review of this Kafka tale I’ve read is from Vladimir Nabokov ------ http://www.kafka.org/index.php?id=191.... Nabokov adjudged Kafka’s tale the greatest novel of the 20th century behind Joyce’s Ulysses.

Gregor Samsa awakes from a bad dream, into a mad nightmare, as he struggles, stuck in his own bed this weary, young traveling salesman, has overnight been miraculously transformed... incredibly Gregor is now a hideous bug, a dung beetle , or even a cockroach does it really matter what ? He has missed his train in more ways than one, but Samsa, is a real trooper, still thinks he can catch the locomotive and make that vile business trip, eventually getting off the bed with great difficulty, just a Gregor Samsa awakes from a bad dream, into a mad nightmare, as he struggles, stuck in his own bed this weary, young traveling salesman, has overnight been miraculously transformed... incredibly Gregor is now a hideous bug, a dung beetle , or even a cockroach does it really matter what ? He has missed his train in more ways than one, but Samsa, is a real trooper, still thinks he can catch the locomotive and make that vile business trip, eventually getting off the bed with great difficulty, just a slight crash, in truth, opening the locked door somehow and moving around on the floor, in his many, new, ugly little legs the parents and sister are greatly shocked, at his new repulsive appearance. And when the office manager arrives to see what happened , big mistake, he spots Samsa and is out the door without a word spoken (twitching a little). Now the "Bug" becomes a burden to his lazy, ungrateful family after years of Gregor supporting them, all by himself (a job he hated, with a big passion), they much embarrassed , hide him in his modest quiet room, feeding the "monstrous vermin", leftover garbage from their table scraps, a menu the bug implausibly prefers...Months pass and it becomes obvious something has to give, the reader will decide is Samsa a real dung beetle, or is he mentally ill? But to some, the gist of the fable is, how much does your family love you? A brutal depiction of a family in tremendous turmoil...expediency triumphs.

It was no dream.
Gregor Samsa awakes one day, changed forever. How unpredictable is life, one moment leading to a new labyrinth of existence where forward is the only motion available, our scars and choices following us in a tuneless parade with few interested spectators. Despite our lives being a personal struggle, it is constantly judged, criticized and appraised by all those whom we encounter. Oh, the injuries we inflict upon one another. We alienate and assume instead of communicate, we fear It was no dream.
Gregor Samsa awakes one day, changed forever. How unpredictable is life, one moment leading to a new labyrinth of existence where forward is the only motion available, our scars and choices following us in a tuneless parade with few interested spectators. Despite our lives being a personal struggle, it is constantly judged, criticized and appraised by all those whom we encounter. Oh, the injuries we inflict upon one another. We alienate and assume instead of communicate, we fear differences and we yell when we should love. Strange how the ones we love tend to be the ones we hurt, or hurt us the most. Kafka’s classic story The Metamorphosis is an alarming tale of alienation and hurt that seems fantastical on the outside to house a bitter pill of reality that has roots in us all. What is most compelling about Kafka is his ability to construct a tale from personal anxiety and injury that broadcasts as a universal message to all that read it, honing in on the guilt, loneliness and frustration in every heart. Gregor’s terrifying tale of transformation is a powerful rendition of guilt and the failure to succeed in a father’s eyes that utilizes religious imagery and fantastical occurences to drive the knife into the reader’s heart and soul.
Gregor lives a life of solemn servitude to his job and, most importantly, his family. His job is a necessity to support a family whose debts accrued by the now-unemployed father are being repaid by the fruits of Gregor’s labor. While Gregor has provided the family with a modest home which he shares with them, the debt seems an unquenchable burden he can never fulfill. In the original German, the word schuld means both ‘debt’ and ‘guilt’¹, a critical texture to the text ironed away by translation that opens a gateway of understanding Gregor’s father issues. There is the guilt at being unable to satisfy the father, to live up to the father, and the senior Samsa is a quick tempered man. Kafka struggled with a strained relationship with his own abusive father, a struggle that he transformed into a literary theme permeating much of his artistic output. Much of Kafka’s life soaks into this work, much like the constant slamming doors he often complained of in his own household with his family.
Despite his transformation, what initially upsets Gregor most is that he is missing work. I felt this sting deep within myself, being the head of a household and barely making ends meet despite long hours. The burden of the working class is to be so dependant on a job as life-blood creating a system of guilt and depraved necessity that pulls us from bed to work despite any affliction; we must work, we must provide, we must survive. To stumble is to die, yet even staggering onward seems just a slow suicide climbing towards an unattainable surface from our pit of existence. Gregor feels this, the reader feels this, and Kafka’s magic has been unleashed. To fail to work is yet another failure in the eyes of the obdurate father.
The father and the Father seem united in the character of the elder Samsa. Kafka himself struggled with his Jewish identity, made plain in his diaries. As Vladimir Nabokov points out in his exquisite lectures on The Metamorphosis², the number three is pivotal to the understanding of the story. The story is divided into three parts. There are three doors to Gregor’s room. His family consists of three people. Three servants appear in the course of the story. Three lodgers have three beards. Three Samsas write three letters. Three, of course, representing the Holy Trinity (there are many other important details surrounding three, such as the clock tower striking three after Gregor retreats into his room, or Gregor standing on his three hind legs since the fourth was damaged beyond repair). The rejection and unfulfillment of the father is also Gregor’s failure to be valuable in the eyes of the Father, God, and perhaps this may be the cause of the unexplained (and rather unquestioned for the most part) transformation that has befallen the poor man. The fatal blow pinning Gregor to the ground like a crucified Christ (while this may be a slight stretch, there are other Christ-like references such as the sudden pain in Gregor's side much like the spear in the side while on the cross) is an Edenic apple thrown from the father, rotting and festering in him like our sins until we breath our last.
‘All language is but a poor translation,’ said Kafka, made evident in Gregor’s failure to communicate in his new form. Communication is the cornerstone of understanding others, and being stripped of his voice severs his link to his family and humanity. ‘That was the voice of an animal,’ the office chief exclaims after Gregor attempts to communicate with them through language. With his loss of language, his family slowly ceases to view him as Gregor but as a dumb beast, easing them into letting go of their notions that he is still Gregor. He is now an unproductive, dumb hindrance to their lives and they begin to forget him and move on to a productive life of work and family without him. It is like an invalid aging relative, many continue to care for them out of respect for their memory, but the person slowly becomes a chore or a burden and not a human-being in their minds. Another view of Gregor in his new state is that of a person stricken by crushing depression or other mental or emotional ailments where those around them begin to view them by their illness and not their soul. They forget the person that is still there, the person they know and love, and dwell on the chasm forged between them. It is human nature, it makes it easier to cope. How many people walk away when times get tough, even abandon the ones they love because it is easier to convince yourself they are not the person you loved than it is to fight for them or fight for what was once had. Kafka’s genius is that he took a personal experience and related it as a universal parable with endless interpretations, each unique and equally valid as they blossom within each respective reader.
Rereading this story was a rewarding experience and I very much connected with it. Gregor was a traveling businessman, and I am a traveling delivery driver. The musings on the plight and unique depression of long hours in strange faraway places hit home, as well as the notion from everyone else that traveling in such a manner is some royal treat. Granted, I greatly enjoy the work and the freedom of being, essentially, a professional vagrant, yet there is a tinge of alienation being a person without an anchor, always on the move, always chasing a horizon. The feelings of guilt, of alienation, the struggles with family, everything range true plucking my heartstrings like a guitar to form a foreboding yet fantastic melody. Kafka is as relevant to the modern reader as he was in his own time with themes that illuminate us with their timeless insight into society and the individual.
4.5/5
I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.
¹ There is an interesting article recently published by the BBC on ‘the German’s debt psyche’ and the cultural relationship between debt and guilt stemming from the word schuld.
² There is a wonderful film adaptation of Nabokov’s lectures with Christopher Plummer as Nabokov. You can watch it here.

5 out of 5

Lisa–Jun 24, 2014

One morning a young man woke up and decided he didn't want to leave his room. He felt at odds with the world and wished he could opt out of his busy life.
He knew he was unlikely to get away with skipping school, so he thought about how to find a perfect excuse. His eyes fell upon the half-read copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis he had left beside his bed, and was pleased. When his stressed mum banged on the bedroom door and yelled that it was time for breakfast, shower and school, he answered:
"I ca One morning a young man woke up and decided he didn't want to leave his room. He felt at odds with the world and wished he could opt out of his busy life.
He knew he was unlikely to get away with skipping school, so he thought about how to find a perfect excuse. His eyes fell upon the half-read copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis he had left beside his bed, and was pleased. When his stressed mum banged on the bedroom door and yelled that it was time for breakfast, shower and school, he answered:
"I can't!"
"What kind of nonsense is that?" yelled his mum.
"I have been transformed into a giant insect and can't move my arms and legs! I mean my legs and legs!"
"Ooooohhh please, I don't have time for this stupid game, get out of your room now, and get ready!"
"You can leave, I'll stay here!"
But his mum knew her Kafka well, and was not ready to let go of her eldest son. Vermin or not, he would socialise and be part of the family. And he would go to school.
"Listen!" she yelled at him. "You live in the wrong place and the wrong time! We care about people here in Sweden, no matter what their personal condition is. If you have a minor insectification problem, so be it. I will write and explain to your teacher that you need certain special education tools, and we can find you a hobby that fits your ability as well."
"No! They will bully me."
"Oh no! There is a perfectly functional anti-bullying programme at your school, and you have been working on it yourself!"
"No! I feel weak!"
"Oh forget it! Fresh air is just the right environment for insects! What kind of bug are you anyway?"
"Mum!"
"Yes, I thought I could send an email to your grandparents, announcing the change!"
"Mum!"
"Your siblings have a right to know as well. Shall I go and get one of those nature books, so you can check for yourself?"
"Mum, you are not going to stay outside my room for the rest of the day, are you? Haven't you got a job to go to?"
"I'll call in sick to take care of my insect son!"
"Can't you just leave me alone?"
"Nope! I'll wait here with an action plan until you open your door and come out! I stick by my children, whatever mess they have gotten themselves into!"
"Okay, I give up! It is impossible to be an isolated, grumpy, neglected insect these days, with all those over-active parents and student care teams buzzing around like annoying flies!"
The young man opened the door, went through his morning rituals, left for school, and did his chores. In the evening, he finished reading Kafka.
"Maybe it's not so bad to live here and now after all", he said, smiling in a truly Kafkaesque way.
The story could be true.

5 out of 5

Sean Barrs the Bookdragon–Jul 29, 2017

Surreal, inexplicable and unusual, Kafka explores the futility of human existence. Or does he?
Gregor Sansa is turned into a bug and through the process he realises just how insignificant he is, how insignificant we all, ultimately, are in the greater scheme of things. He was his family’s backbone, holding them up, supporting them financially whist they took the easy path. However, when that backbone is removed the unit adapts; it carries on and finds new means of survival. The most important me Surreal, inexplicable and unusual, Kafka explores the futility of human existence. Or does he?
Gregor Sansa is turned into a bug and through the process he realises just how insignificant he is, how insignificant we all, ultimately, are in the greater scheme of things. He was his family’s backbone, holding them up, supporting them financially whist they took the easy path. However, when that backbone is removed the unit adapts; it carries on and finds new means of survival. The most important member of the family is swept aside, forgotten about and life continues as it always must. I guess he wasn’t that important after all.
There are so many designs that can be put onto this story, so many interpretations. And this is what Kafka does so well. He leaves you with absolutely nothing, no answers or explanations, only a simple case of this happened and it ended like this. We as readers look for meaning within the narrative because that is how narrative traditionally works. There has to be a point to it all, right? But perhaps that is the point: there is no point. Perhaps by looking too hard we miss what Kafka is trying to say, or not say, with his passive writing.
There are certainly elements of alienation in here, even in the recollections Gregor has before he was turned into a bug. As per the modernist mode, he was isolated from his peers and the world at large. Powerlessness is also another theme that runs through the story. Gregor’s family, and Gregor, cannot stop what is happening. They just have to go on with it and hope to make it through to the other side. A suggestion that no matter how hard we work in life, how much love or success we appear to have, we can be struck down at any moment. Forced into a situation we cannot control, we perish. Such is life.
It would be easy to talk about elements of Kafka’s own biography here, and consider the work’s relevance to events that would eventually happen later in the century, but I think that would be to put too much of a design on the book. His personal feelings about life obviously helped to propel much of his writing. He wrote many strange stories, though Metamorphosis is the most renowned of his work. Utterly compelling, yet bewildering, this isn’t a story that will ever leave the reader. It’s haunting and told with realistic mundanity.
“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous bug…”

"Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt." ("One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from restless dreams, he discovered in his bed that he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.")
This novella starts with a shock, but ignores the "why" and "how" (I don't think anyone in the book ever asked either of those questions) in favor of exploring Gregor's and his family's reactions to the change and
"Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt." ("One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from restless dreams, he discovered in his bed that he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.")
This novella starts with a shock, but ignores the "why" and "how" (I don't think anyone in the book ever asked either of those questions) in favor of exploring Gregor's and his family's reactions to the change and how it affects their relationships and their lives. Franz Kafka had a fraught relationship with his father, a butcher and a loud, overbearing, self-satisfied man who was critical of Franz. I can see Kafka's internal feeling of insufficiency giving root to this story where it is externalized into the physical appearance of a loathsome bug, alienated from all around him.
Interestingly, the number three plays a repeated role: three parts to the story, three family members, three servants, three bearded lodgers... It's debatable what this means, but I tend to think Kafka was referencing the number three's popularity in folk and fairy tales (three wishes, three brothers, three billy goats Gruff, etc.) to give his story additional heft and a more timeless feel, rather than, say, it being used here a religious symbol. But Kafka, who was Jewish, did use some religious and even Christian symbols. Note the symbolic apple and the crucifixion imagery here:An apple thrown without much force glanced against Gregor's back and slid off without doing any harm. Another one however, immediately following it, hit squarely and lodged in his back; Gregor wanted to drag himself away, as if he could remove the surprising, the incredible pain by changing his position; but he felt as if nailed to the spot and spread himself out, all his senses in confusion.My main thought after finishing this is that the family relationships being dissected here are incredibly sad, and disturbing. In an essay on The Metamorphosis, Vladimir Nabokov stated that "Gregor is a human being in an insect's disguise; his family are insects disguised as people." I've gone back and forth on whether I agree with this, but it certainly has given me a lot of food for thought: There's the originally loving sister who turns on him, the frail and helpless mother who lets him be mistreated, and the father who attacks him physically in the only two interactions they have. They betray him repeatedly, and Gregor always accepts it meekly and even makes excuses to himself for their mistreatment of him. His father stashing away Gregor's wages while Gregor was working at a horrific job to pay off the father's bankruptcy, was awful to read about, and Gregor simply rationalizes it. It's particularly chilling how in the end they all brush off (view spoiler)[Gregor's death and cheerfully move on, even blossom hatch from their cocoons, after he's gone (hide spoiler)] .
I ended up reading about 30% of this in German and the rest in English, going back and forth between two side-by-side versions. Some of the German dialogue and expressions don't translate well into English. For example, Gregor's boss is called "Herr Prokurist" -- literally, Mr. Manager (which was the name used for him in one translation I looked at), but it sounds very lame in English. So I appreciated the additional level of authenticity and even insight that reading parts of this in the original German gave to me.
The more I think about this and pick it apart, the more impressed I am with it. There are so many layers to this story. I started out with 3 stars based on my college memories of reading this, upped it to 4 stars when I finished it the other day, and, after spending more time analyzing it for this review, am finally winding up with 5.
December 14, 2015 reread with the Non-Crunchy Cool Classic Pantaloonless Buddy Readers group.
I highly recommend taking a look at Vladimir Nabokov's lecture and notes on The Metamorphosis, here at the Kafka Project website.
Initial post:I didn't care for this when I studied it in college but I'm hoping it will grow on me this time. I've found a cool website with side-by-side English and German versions of the story: http://bilinguis.com/book/metamorphos...
So my intention is to try to work through this novella in German. Wish me luck! <---ETA: this was a semi-successful experiment. See above.

When I was a child,I used to get myself hide for some time and animatedly hear what’s everyone saying about my disappearance……we all are walled up by insecurities, incarcerated by uncertainties, captivated by absurdities and haunted by fears of losing the people we love so helplessly …………
Kafka touches delicate strings of relations, with such audacity and ingenuousness that Metamorphosis becomes a voice on drum even after more than 100 years of its publication..
Kafka’s writings largely originated When I was a child,I used to get myself hide for some time and animatedly hear what’s everyone saying about my disappearance……we all are walled up by insecurities, incarcerated by uncertainties, captivated by absurdities and haunted by fears of losing the people we love so helplessly …………
Kafka touches delicate strings of relations, with such audacity and ingenuousness that Metamorphosis becomes a voice on drum even after more than 100 years of its publication..
Kafka’s writings largely originated from the conflicted relationship he experienced with his family, especially his father, and the glimpse of that biographical connection is vividly portrayed in form of our main character Gregor Samsa,who to his utter misfortune gets up one morning just to witness a horrendous insect of himself transformed overnight….
So what do we expect him to do now?
Consider himself in mid of some nightmere and sleep again?
Shriek vehemently by first transformed-sight of himself?
Think of suicide maybe?
No,he doesn’t do such thing,and here we come to know typical kafka-hero,Gregor is little startled to see himself an enormous insect and littler worried to get back into human form.the first thought strikes his head is of being late today from job and catching train to reach office.and counting time as he keeps lying in bed for a good deal time.and this is the thinking that paves ground for Marxist approach of the novella.
Gregor is the representative of proletariat class trying so bad to catch up with bourgoais, considering job
“travelling day in and travelling day out..” and bosses “pain in ass”…..a little box is not enough to touch other approaches like symbolism, structuralism and a semblance of feminism in story.
The most horrific factor though is of alienation,Gregor in his own home is confined to hide and is treated strictly like the one he looks………an insect a bigger one!
Gregor becomes noticeably less human and more accepting of his transformative state. With each act, Gregor also becomes physically weaker. As his family abandons its denial of his insectlike appearance and their hope for his full recovery to a normal human condition, they gradually become indifferent to his fate and recognize their need to pursue their lives without him. His father returns to work, his mother learns to operate the house without the help of a maid, even adding the burden of taking in boarders, and his sister assumes the responsibilities of adulthood. Where once he was the center of their lives, he now becomes an unnecessary burden and an embarrassment.
And this is when he abandons hope……….
Gregor dies of disappointment!